Lead your team of Runners to survive a corrupt megacorporation’s intrigue threatening thousands of lives in this new action-strategy game set in the most popular cyberpunk universe of all times – Shadowrun.

앞서 해보는 게임

지금 바로 플레이할 수 있습니다. 게임이 개발되는 과정에 참여하세요.

왜 앞서 해보나요?

“We want you to help us shape the game. From its Kickstarter days to the basic design elements Shadowrun Chronicles is about shaping the game together with the community. And we need the nuyen to feed our habits.”

이 게임은 언제까지 앞서 해볼 수 있나요?

“Until we launch on April 28th 2015”

정식 버전은 앞서 해보는 것과 어떻게 달라지나요?

“The full version will have the full features, obviously, and a lot more content. See out "What will be" section for more details.”

지금 앞서 해보기 버전은 어떤 상태인가요?

“The current version is mostly bug-free. We focus on making each feature as polished as we can before adding more.
The current version contains parts of the campaign highlighting elements like combat, security systems and combat-hacking and has limited features (such as no Multiplayer Hub).”

앞서 해보는 동안, 또는 앞서 해본 이후 게임 가격이 다르게 매겨지나요?

“Yes, you will save about 30% on Early Access vs. release pricing.”

개발 과정에 어떻게 커뮤니티를 참여시킬 건가요?

“We do regular live Q&As and actively engage the community about features and what they would like to see in the Steam Forums and on www.shadowrun.com”

2015년 3월 12일

On March 17th we will release the first update using the new name Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown. Expect (among under things) the new Body & Mind skill trees, levelling henchmen, new missions and the career system, which allows you to create multiple runners.

2015년 2월 17일

The 8th Early Access Update of Shadowrun Online is OUT NOW! This update marks the next huge step forward for the game including much wanted features that have been in the making for quite some time.

As you will be able to play a slice of our second act, every character gets Karma points, Nuyen and weapons to start out with. Be sure to learn a few skills and equip the appropriate weapons BEFORE going into a mission!

New Features:

Create your Runner! The Character Creation Screen is now available in game, including metahuman traits, lots of different backgrounds and many new portraits! In later versions this will only be available when you create a character, for this version however you can come back and play around with the settings!

All new hub! An extended real-time hub has been added to the game, featuring not only quest givers, but also shopkeepers and NPCs to talk to! Later your team will be able to play in the same hub as a group!

Improved grouping: You will now be able to form groups with people who aren’t on your friend list – just click on them in the chat and invite them to join you. Groups will also not disbanded anymore once you finished a run, so you can keep playing together i to the next mission!

Ready for Combat! The gear selection has been added, allowing you to select weapons, armor and consumables for your run.

Wanting to buy? Shopkeepers will now sell items to better prepare you for the upcoming challenges!

Dressed Up: The new clothing screen allows you to change your outfits and see which new pieces are available in your considerable wardrobe.

Improved UI: The in-mission UI has been updated again and now shows more information about your characters and enemies. Hover over any character or enemy to find out more details.

Rewards: Johnsons will now reward your efforts with Nuyen (and sometimes also items).

Protection, please! Armor is now in the game, protecting you from all sorts of damage.

Use this! Grenades, Medkits and more consumable goodness!

More Skills: All skill trees have been extended to rank 10 and skill values have been rebalanced.

Drones Incoming! The Rigger skill tree is now in the game.

Specialist: Henchmen are now archetypes with a primary skill group.

Check Me Out: In the team selection screen hovering over a henchman will show you vital information about the character.

New enemies: Fight the raging hordes of the Headcases faction!

More and prettier! More Missions, more effects, more weapons, new customization items, more animations!

Bug fixes & Improvements

We exchanged the font used in the game with a better readable one.

The workflow for adding friends has been improved.

The portraits of the selected henchmen will be displayed in the team selection now..

Pressing F11 will turn off all UI elements during a run – perfect for those who want to take a screenshot without showing the interface.

Characters can now be rotated in the gear, customization and clothing screen.

Pistols, Foci and Cyberdecks are not stored on a character’s back in Character Customization and similar screens anymore.

The floating text won’t report critical hits against an enemy immune to that type of damage as critical anymore.

Characters won’t be affected by status effects caused by attacks of a type they are immune to.

Summoned Spirits can’t trigger interactive objects anymore.

Several clipping issues with outfits and characters have been fixed.

Fixed an issue in “Game Day” which caused movement outlines to disappear.

Having two weapons of a kind equipped doesn’t cause the skill button highlights to get stuck anymore

Luna’s bear spirit now has a different color, making it easier to spot amidst player bears.

평가

“After spending many, many years playing the pen-and-paper version of the game, I've found that even in Early Access, Cliffhanger Productions' multiplayer-enabled, tactics-focused take on the tech fantasy universe is the purest Shadowrun videogame experience on offer today.”
Destructoid

“The addition of co-operative gameplay could be exactly the kind of addition that the Shadowrun franchise needs.”
Leviathyn

Founder's Edition

The Founder's Edition will provide you with the complete Boston Lockdown campaign for Shadowrun Chronicles on release of the full game as well as a set of extra items, weapons and armour which help you get an edge on the streets. You will also contribute to our development effort and help us make the game that much better. Also features an extra soundtrack of Shadowrun music and the Pen and Paper game Quick start rules plus an exclusive Boston setting tabletop adventure to play!

디지털 디럭스 에디션

The Digital Deluxe Edition will provide you with the complete Boston Lockdown campaign for Shadowrun Chronicles on release of the full game as well as a set of extra items, weapons and armour which help you get an edge on the streets PLUS the first campaign update for Shadowrun Online for free on release of the update AND an extra soundtrack of Shadowrun music and the Pen and Paper game Quick start rules plus an exclusive Boston setting tabletop adventure to play!
You will also contribute to our development effort and help us make the game that much better.

WHAT IT IS

This version is an early version of the game and contains a part of the full campaign and a limited set of skills and equipment. This means that while you can get a good impression of what the core gameplay will be like, there is only a limited set of characters and no items or rewards in the game yet. It is mostly bug free, but it is not feature complete. We built it this way because it allows us to get feedback and work on the core gameplay before we move on to the next features of the game. We have fighting, magic and combat-hacking and a good cast of enemies in.

Word of warning: The game is tough - it's designed that way. Running the shadows is never easy and going in guns blazing will certainly get you in trouble!

We will add new elements, tweaks and content every 4-6 weeks. We hope that this will allow growing and maturing the game together with you, our players and give us the information we need to stay on the right track.

WHAT IT WILL BE

We have a lot of neat ideas for the game and of course we will add more elements. Things that will be added as development continues:

Items: Weapons, armour and cyberware, magic talismans and cyberdecks: Loot them, buy them or do runs for them. Our item system separates the visual aspects from the item ability, so no need to wear a silly hat just for the bonus it grants!

4 Player co-op - play with your group of runner friends live!

Large Hub with live players and loads of NPCs

Evolving world campaign: New content will be released based on the collective actions of the players. This is your world!

Tough missions: Because life in the shadows is never easy!

Basic Edition

The Basic Edition will provide you with the complete Boston Lockdown Campaign content for Shadowrun Chronicles on release of the full game. This is the complete Shadowrun Chronicles game!

You will also contribute to our development effort and help us make the game that much better!

Linux

With this update we introduce Linux support. Please keep in mind that this is currently in alpha and the game has ONLY been tested on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Please help us to get the game to as many distros as possible by providing your feedback at http://steamcommunity.com/app/267750/discussions/0/616189742733978848/

게임에 대해

Lead your team of Runners to survive a corrupt megacorporation’s intrigue threatening thousands of lives in this new action-strategy game set in the most popular cyberpunk universe of all times – Shadowrun.

Entrapped in a city plagued by a deadly virus, assaulted by the minions of a megacorporation, attacked by infected and with a dragon on a rampage through the city you have to unearth the secret conspiracy that connects it all.

As the leader of your team of Shadowrunners, you will have to use magic, technology and every weapon available to you, to save the lives of thousands in a city at the brink of extinction. Grow you character, plan your missions and control your team in combat or play live co-op with other players to overcome the challenges ahead of you. Meet your fellow runners in the Back Alley or hire henchmen to help you succeed.

Set in the dystopian near future of our world, where magic has awakened and blends with technology, creatures of myth and legend have returned. Elves, Dwarves, Orks and Trolls walk among the neon-lit streets, while the matrix connects everyone and everything as the corporate towers cast their long shadows across the globe. You are a Shadowrunner - a secret operative on the edge of society, hired for the jobs no one wants to be connected with. A cyberpunk rebel surviving by skill and instinct in the shadows of the corporate towers!

Welcome to the dark side of the future, chummer. It’s going to be a hell of a ride.

Featuring

Run and Gun! Gripping and deadly tactical turn-based combat in true Shadowrun style: Choose from a wide array of skills groups, magic, technology and weapons to survive!

Real consequences! If you lose team-members on a mission, they stay dead. If you don't pick up a mission in time, someone else will have done the job. Are you tough enough to survive the streets?

Teamwork! Build up your team of runners or join with other players in live co-op to find the best combination of skill, magic and technology for survival.

You'll never run alone! Team up with friends for your next run or swap stories with other runners in the hangout. Take your friend's characters with you into a mission even when they are not online.

Every move counts! Dive behind cover, find alternate routes with clever use of your skills, send your drones or spirits into battle and use any weapon at your disposal to make it out alive.

Be who YOU want to be! Create your individual Shadowrunner in a completely level-free character system from over 60 different combat and non-combat skills, unique backgrounds and five metahuman races. Start a muscle-packed former Troll bouncer and become an expert Rigger, sending your drones into combat or complement your spell slinging mage with the abilities of a skillful sniper. The choice is yours!

Gear up! Employ a variety of armor, augmentations, cyberware, magic and of course tons of weapons! Lob a grenade at your enemies, blast them with a mana ball or pass them unnoticed by hacking their security systems. Over 50 different enemies from vicious gangers to combat drones and corporate wagemages await!

Shape the future! Developed jointly with the tabletop RPG books your actions in the game will shape the future of the whole Shadowrun universe!

시스템 요구 사항

Windows

Mac OS X

SteamOS + Linux

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7/Windows 8.1

Processor: 2.0+ GHz or better

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Graphics: 1024 MB NVidia or ATI graphics card

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

Recommended:

OS: Windows 7/Windows 8.1

Processor: 2.5+ GHz or better

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: 2048 MB NVidia or ATI graphics card

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

Minimum:

OS: OSX 10.7 +

Processor: 2.0+ GH or better

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Graphics: 1024 MB NVidia or ATI graphics card

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

Recommended:

OS: OSX 10.7 +

Processor: 2.5+ GHz or better

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: 2048 MB NVidia or ATI graphics card

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

Minimum:

OS: Ubuntu 14.04

Processor: 2.0+ GHz or better

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Graphics: 1024 MB NVidia or ATI graphics card with dedicated drivers

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

Recommended:

OS: Ubuntu 14.04

Processor: 2.5+ GHz or better

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: 2048 MB NVidia or ATI graphics card with dedicated drivers

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

Under License of Microsoft. All characters and visuals copyright Cliffhanger Productions Games GmbH 2014

THIS IS IN EARLY EARLY ACCESS!! Shadow Run Chronicles: Boston Lockout came into early access Mar 31, 2014, and should have a full release on April 28th 2015. I believe they have a long way to go, but with that said let's get into exactly how i feel the game is now. To start out the game has its main gameplay elements and they work great. It contains a decent amount of customization and skill trees, but it still has a long way to come until i can say 100% buy this game. Along with the limited customization the story is very short and the missions can get very repetitive. This being said, everything i have said as negatives the devs have said they will fix or expanded upon. I really can’t wait to see what the devs can do for the full release.

Pros

Core Elements are all here

Fun combat

Regular Updates

Show tons of potential for the full release/future updates

Multiple races

Multiplayer

Cons

Needs more customization

Needs more missions

Can become repetitive

It's just not finished

Conclusion

Don't buy Shadow Run Chronicles: Boston Lockout unless you can be patient. It's not finished, but the updates that have come out up until now really show promise. The core gameplay is finished and is tons of fun. If you can be patient for the development process this is definitely something you should consider picking up.

I wanted to wait for the release date before I write anything, and now that the game has one I guess it's time to write a commend... so why don't I recommend the game (at the state it is) ?

Well I don't know how you guys play ShadowRun, but for me the "legwork" is the most important part of the game, the "roleplaying", the interaction with other characters, the information gathering, connection establishing, alternate route finding... not the "dungeon crawling" and not the "fights" (or dice-orgies as I use to call them).

As I'm experiencing the game right now, it has no legwork at all, no attributes(!), an absurd skillsystem (i gotta skill pistols to pick locks? shotgun-skilling helps me use explosives? And whats up with the strange race-boni? There are no social-skills of any kind since you don't need them.) it's just not a roleplaying game.(Skillsystem had a slight change since I wrote this, not enough to rewrite everything but I want to be fair so I add this, it's a little less absurd than it was before, as non-combat-skills have been moved to 2 new trees but still no social-skills or attributes)

So what is it? Think of it as XCom, but only the battles and even those are not as good as XComs or Xenonauts.Yes there is kind of a hub in between the missions, but so far there is nothing important there. You can buy stuff, just like in the village in Diablo, just less roleplay than in the village in Diablo (yeah hard to believe I know).

Well, first of all, i must admit im a great fan of Cliffhanger Production and Aerena, and thats my first run into Shadorun universe.

When i saw this game, i was amazed about the lore, graphics and gameplay, which totally reminded me old schools games like fallout and xcom. but Online!

The game is on early access and has amazing graphics, solid core, a very decent player customization and large skillset to make your own unique builds. And it will get even better untill release!!

It definetly have a lot of potential replayablity with the online features and i trust the developer team. They really know how to make turn based games, and most important, they will listen to the comunity, which is mandatory at early acess stages of the game!

Shadowrun Chronicles contains a wide range of customisation options to provide interesting and tactical choices during combat. These include choosing from a selection of different character traits, a wide range of equipment (guns, hacking devices, magic amplifiers) as well as a selection of skill tress with which to further specialise your character by spending earned Karma points in them.

The game has some rough edges which still need to be ironed out, but that is to be expected from it being in Early Access. If you are looking for a turn-based combat game the likes of XCOM, keep an eye on it!

This is a fun game and delivers fully on what is promised! Yes, this game is still in production, and yes still needs some polish and tweaking but there is SO much potential that I can't see why this won't be a hit... especially for fans of the Shadowrun franchise!

Kickstarter Early Access to this game and they have been consistantly improving it. It seems to be coming together nicely and has become a pretty good game. They still have a little ways to go to make this an EPIC game, but they are getting there!

As a fan of turn-based strategy games, and a fan of Shadowrun tabletop since 1st edition, I was absolutely delighted when I heard about the Kickstarter for a turn-based strategy MMO designed in the world of Shadowrun.

A little background before I begin (skip past the line if you just want the review):

I have been a consistent member on their forums since donating to the Kickstarter. Through that I have found Cliffhanger to be a small independent studio, and true to their name at the start, asked for a very modest ammount for such an ambitious project. However, they got the funding to do it, and through a number of pitfalls (like losing their artist... like literally, disappeared!) and some setbacks in the initial development (realizing they needed a stronger game engine to do everything they wanted- and had to design a new one to accomodate!) they finally launched the Early Access Alpha. I have also consistently participated in this process since it launched.

The Alpha launched smooth, and for the most part each update has been tight and bug-free. When bugs have come up, they quickly take care of them. They care very much about the project, and are as passionate as the fans they're making the game for, and it shows in every update.

Now that they're about a month away from officially launching, I feel comfortable giving as complete a review as I can. I have to say I still look very forward to each and every update as it has gotten better and better! They have ALWAYS listened and responded to feedback, and extra development time was taken to make the game 'right' based on that feedback._________________________________

Shadowrun is a game set in our world's future. Magic has once again awakened, including dragons and creatures of myth, which both blend and clash regularly with Megacorporations and high-tech advancements like cyberware and AI's. Magic returning to the world was not a smooth process, and led to reshaping the landscape of politics, society, and even warfare. That's where you come in. As a shadowrunner, you exist in the shadows of those giants (politics, society, and warfare) to work for often unknown employers with even more ineffable agendas... Whatever pays the bills, right Chummer?

Character Creation is easy to grasp, You choose a gender and a race (Ork, Dwarf, Troll, Elf, or Human) each of which have their own advantages and disadvantages. You may select from a variety of backgrounds to help round out your character with other qualities as well, and help set a tone for how you want them to develop.

The list is ever-expanding with them adding to it all the time. Backgrounds examples are: Bouncer, Ex-Cop, Gutter Rat, Ganger, Spirit Talker (magic, remember), Engineer, Tribal Youth, Lucky, and even "Boring" if you don't want any of the other options (it has neither bonuses or penalties). And you'll have a place to put in your own text to expand on that and tell your character's unique story.

The most fun part of character creation is (of course) designing the character! You get to choose from a wide selection of fashions, gear, and hairstyles to build your character with. One of the best parts is THERE IS NO GENDER SEPERATION IN FASHION, giving you the widest selection to choose from! You want to make a male Ork in a mini-skirt? Go for it chummer, we don't judge! You don't want to be all girly-girl as a female Elf character? Put on a road-warrior stop sign top with some camo pants to go with your cigar and automatic rifle!

The next update before the official launch will also include a variety of skin tones to choose from as well!

You have a number of Skills to choose and build up, but you can only use two Skill-sets at a time during any given run (Pistols, Automatics, Shotguns, Conjuring, Spellcraft, Hacking, Rigging (drone combat), Blades, and Blunt Weapons). Find the combination that works best for you and build them up with the XP you earn, increasing the 'Skill Tree' system which opens up more options and manevuers for your character to use during combat. You can buy into as many Skill sets as you want, but be careful not to spread yourself too thin by doing so! Better to aim for a couple specialties, especially early on. There's a lot of really good, tough choices to be made there!

Your "Attributes" are represented by a Body Tree, and a Mind Tree that you can build up as well. Are you fast and limber, adept at dodging things, or big, tough, and built like a brick? Maybe a little bit of both? Are you knowledgeable about lockpicking, and data manipulation, or observant and quick-witted? Again, little bit of both? This should be completely nailed down in the next update, so I don't know the particulars, but we have tested a number of the systems that will be going into it. These Trees will help 'fine tune' your character with little bonuses to health or dodge, make you more adept at skills and feats you can perform (lockpicking, hacking, breaking objects, etc).

Gameplay is solid as a turn-based tactial game. The tutorial eases you into it, but it can get deadly quick as you progress further into the plot. Gangers, corporate security forces (as well-armed as any paramiliatary force), armored drones, cyber-security dogs, and spirit guardians all stand in the way of your goals, and armor only goes so far against a chainsaw-weilding ganger maniac, or a security captain with a flame thrower!

One thing. It's not 'open world' like a lot of MMO's. There are social hubs you gather in, and a map of the city that you travel through with various zoned instances, that open up more and more areas for you to explore as you progress in the game. It's easy to forget that though once you're in and playing.

The main story has mostly been hidden from us until launch, so I can't give an honest review to that. The only things we know for sure is a dragon went on a rampage, everyone's getting infected with some sort of insanity, the city's gone on lockdown, and if we want to survive we need to get a supply route going for one of our contacts, and there's a lone officer stuck in the middle of this without backup that needs our help (and can pay well enough).

Another BIG thing we've known since the Kickstarter, our combined actions will affect the world in a MAJOR way. Cliffhanger has teamed with Catalyst (the current producers of the tabletop game) to co-create this story. The combined actions of our characters will bring down one of the biggest Megacorporations in the world!!

Which one? Well that's for us to decide!

There will be OPTIONAL PvP in the game as well! They have already outlined a few modes for us. One is a run team (their characters) vs another team playing the role of NPC security forces or gangers. The other is a "Running Man" style of team vs team in a Sport style environment with leaderboards and such, and another is 'objective based' which pits two teams against an environment and an objective that doesn't mean they have to fight each other... just keep the other from it.

So if you're a fan of Shadowrun, you'll want in on the action and see what both Cliffhanger and Catalyst have in store for us!

If you don't know Shadowrun, but are a fan of tactical turn-based strategy games, this is definitely worth a look!

If you're a fan of interactive roleplaying with other players in a dystopian cyberpunk futureistic setting? Well it's still worth a look! I can already tell you from the forums there's the opportunity for a thriving roleplaying community in this game, and the Dev's are already working on possible things to encourage it (private 'hang out' areas for groups to talk away from the main social hubs, etc.)

Hope you enjoyed the review, and with any luck I'll see you in the shadows!

My complete opinion is still TBD, but for now I'm voting this "up" to balance against the knuckleheads who voted it down because it didn't fit their definition of a MMO.

I backed this project when it first became available on Kickstarter under the name Shadowrun Online. Yes, the devs referred to it as a MMO, but ***if the complainers had actually paused to read the description of the game*** instead of throwing thier money into it because it contained the words "Shadowrun Online" and "MMO", they would have known it was ***always*** marketed as a turn-based co-op game. Seriously, go back to the original Kickstarter announcement and read what it says. At no time did the devs ever mislead anyone about what they wanted to make. So anyone who is disgruntled or disappointed because they didn't get the WoW-like MMO they wanted has no room to complain. But of course, that won't stop them.

As for the state of the game, it is coming along nicely ... but aside from the fancier graphics I haven't seen anything yet that really makes it stand out from Shadowrun Returns. I have faith the devs will continue to improve it since this project was for them as much a labor of love as a business venture. But as of March 2015, the only significant difference between Chronicles and Returns is that Chronicles offers community interaction and co-op play which Returns is lacking.

If you're looking for Shadowrun that has Co-Op or online elements, then this game is not it. It is an entirely different game that uses Shadowrun universe and mechanics. Keep that in mind when you're buying this and you'll be happier with your purchase. I will recommend this because it was good enough in my opinion, but then again I haven't played the game long enough.

Seems promising. Like the flow of combat overall. Graphics are nice. The overall story is done well and I like that Catalyst is supporting it with released sourcebooks.

Not a huge fan of the weapons available but it's still early yet. My major gripe here is that rather than a list of base weapons to buy and mod there are tiered versions of each weapon available. Finally got my Ares Predator IV (tier 4 weapon, not an actual Predator IV with smartlink etc.) and was incredibly disappointed to see that apparently Ares corporation has decided to inexplicably limit their flagship heavy pistol to a clip size of just 4. This is actually the case with all heavy pistols in Chronicles. Obviously meant to be a balancing decision but still seems wrong.

Not liking how mages and shamans are so limited in scope (archetypes in this game are decided based on what gear you buy and equip rather than your attributes and skills and as such all magic users have to equip either a power focus or conjuring focus in order to do their thing, which is pretty weak).

Deckers (or is it Hackers nowadays?) seem to be able to target regular enemies and take them out in combat with...tech damage over the matrix? I could see them taking out drones and vehicles and maybe hampering other enemies where it made sense, such as attacking their connected equipment and cyberware (I assume cyberware will make it into this game by release, although not sure in what form) giving them penalties in combat such as temporarily deactivated weapons, remotely triggered weapons (set off a full auto burst from an enemy assault rifle to waste their ammo and have a small chance of hitting other nearby enemies), disabling bonuses from cyberware, etc.

Obviously this game is far from done and overall I feel it is promising. I'll decide for sure sometime after full release.

The developers have not fulfilled their promises even slightly with this game. When I backed this game before the mess you see on steam was created this was supposed to be a Shadowrun MMO. Now they advertise it as a "Tactical turn-based combat RPG". There is no hub or city where runners meet up and shop between missions. Character creation is a poorly implemented joke that looks nothing like the concept footage. Game play is slow and boring with almost no story involved. The combat system itself is tedious and does not even come close to XCOM level strategy. It barely even follows the lore of Shadowrun. Mages are represented by a Skull weapon that any character can equip and the 3 spells are predetermined. Looking for a customizable Shadowrun strategy experience? You should probably keep looking becuase you will not find it here. I am an original backer for this game and used to be a fanboy defending the game on the forums from nay sayers. The game is so terrible I can not stand playing for more than 5 minutes at a time. I have spent 180 dollars as a backer and frankly I feel cheated. This abomination is nothing like they promised us.

EDIT: 2/28/2015 This game is still pretty terrible. Character creation has gotten much better but is remarkably underwhelming with few options for actual personalization of your runner. All the core races are now represented. You have very few choices of the various clothing in which to make yourself look unique. Most of the few clothing options that are available look terrible. Unless you want your character to be wearing all black skin tight clothes be prepared to look rediculous.

The leveling system they have implemented looks like a heavily dumbed down version of what Shadowrun Returns Dragonfall uses for followers when they level up. Basically you have a single upgrade path and every so many "levels" you get to choose one of 2 options to personalize that skill. The different options are not overly unique so it ends up being you have pretty much the same characters as everyone else. The only real difference being what weapons you chose to equip compared to them.

The campaign is very simplistic with an attempt at adding dialouge to bring some of the lore in. I think this is a small step in the right direction but is still poorly implemented and very far from expectations. The dialouge that is there can often times be obscured by the camera if you did not have the NPC centered before initiating the conversation. Over all you make no choices and you just click NPC's to start their dialouge chain. To the credit of the designers the NPC's do speak the Shadowrun slang pretty well.

The combat system is getting better but is still very underwhelming. The skull with the preset spells is gone and has been re-skinned as a talisman with pre-selected spells. They did add a second talisman that you can get with a slightly different spell selection. Aside from the ability to summon a really crappy ghost bear with the new one it is virtually identical. If they were to triple the options available to each talisman and add more spell effects than just blasting it would be more tolerable. Invisibility, Magic Fingers, or the ability to errect barriers would be nice additions.

The TL:DR is this game is getting better but is still terrible. I will always be a fan boy of Shadowrun as a franchise but worry this game will damage the intellectual property. I am grateful Shadowrun Returns keeps going strong and hope it will draw more players than this game will scare off. Hopefully the next company that picks up the intellectual property will give us the game we deserve. If you are a fan boy looking at this game I HIGHLY reccomend you watch a recent lets play video on YOUTUBE before spending any money on this drek. Good luck in the shadows chummers. Sorry I don't have better news.

In 9 months the game has gone from really bare to still pretty bare. Playing this after SRR / SRDF as a Shadowrun fan is definitely underwhelming. I'd keep an eye on it, as it's only been in dev for 9 months or so. Still, I'd give it a wait and see as the online aspects are lackluster, skill trees bare, and tactical options severely limited. Can this be good game someday? Absolutely it can, but at the time of writing the early access isn't worth the money. It's basically an iphone TBS game at the moment and until it becomes more I'd warn people off. I will most definitely re-review it at the time of release. It's only fair.

What it has:Trolls, Orks, Elves, Dwarves, and Human MetatypesBackground Trait (pick 1)10 Skill Trees with 10 Skills each.Excellent environmental and thematic effectsVery nice turn-based strategy fighting~5 portraits for each metatype and genderA basic storyline to string along a series of runs~50 clothing options, from gloves to goggles, that are not gender locked(Yes, you can be a male troll with garters and striped stockings and a tube top.)

What it NEEDS:Cyberware, either as a skill tree or as an equipment setDe-laced conjuring and spellcastingMeritsSignificantly more choices and styles in spells7 types of damage (stun, ballistic, physical, fire, cold, toxic, electric)Armor (While there are armor inlays in the game, such as ceramic plating or polymer coating, there needs to be MUCH more variety and customizeability)AttributesOne-Shot runsSecondary Objectives/RewardsLegworkAstral/AR viewsDescriptions and tool tips and variations in gear choicesModsNeverwinter-Style Player-Generated Run community content3-5 social hubs (including one or two matrix channel/chat/community/thingies)

Wishlist?PANs as an inventory/equipment/cyberware management setupYou could sell cosmetic AR in a microtrans cash shop!Fixers and Gear TestsCrafting/Engineering TestsSpell AssemblyGroup InitiationTrolls to be roughly 40% bigger than they are now, and receive lower cover bonuses and have higher reach.Advanced magical tricks to be unlocked at certain karma levels/initiation instead of cyberware enhancements (masking!)In game explanations of RFID chips and why 'looting badguys' is a terrible ideaHeat and Infamy

This is a 3-D isometric, RPG-LITE, turn based tactical game with short, combat-oriented missions. The game design decisions are built around the idea of quick play: from the UI, to the tactical choices to the repercussions for individual actions, everything converges to generate a combat-focused fast-play experience by turn-based standards.

RPG or Tactical?As something of a hybrid Tactical-RPG title, I would say its leaning markedly towards the tactical end of the spectrum. If you’re coming in expecting a full-blown RPG with a dynamic interactive story, you’ll likely be disappointed, as the efforts of the developers is more oriented towards generating a dynamic tactical game with high replay value on their content (ie. gratuitous gun-fights with bodies dropping all around). It does tell a story, but this is a backdrop for the missions and you’re not going to alter the mission flow of the Boston Lockdown campaign (though there is a plan to have future missions change based on the total pool of player choices in certain missions, but that's not really relevant to those wanting an interactive story). From an RPG perspective, it does tell a story, but doesn’t try and make that interactive.

Character BuildingCharacter creation is also more like a richer version of a tactical squad based game than a full-blown RPG. Everything is skill tree oriented, and its like a much larger X-Com mechanism with a linear progression down each tree and many of the progressions offering “this or that” choices. Characters can have two weapon trees active, plus two trees filled with passive abilities, which in many cases are kinda like what attributes would do in a traditional RPG system.

Also of note, there is going to be a soft cap on Karma (XP), so that only the story missions will offer karma to learn new skills and end game runners will not be juggernauts of the primordial plane (repeatable missions will be there for end game runners to gain loot and buy expensive items like cyberware). New story missions released after launch will raise the cap, but you’re looking at specialists rather than Mr. Do-It-All for the end game. You can, however, create multiple runners and try out different builds.

It seems implicit that they first decided on the combat mechanics and then built the character skills and abilities while trying to keep things balanced, like you’d expect in a tactical game. It was not designed to cater to people who bought the game so that they can build a very specific sort of mage or what have you, so everyone would do well to know that before purchase.

There is a lot of potential for visual customization, though this content is still in development.

CombatThis is really the strength of the game. As noted, the core philosophy is quick play, and this has come together very nicely with game mechanics that generate decisive results off of single actions. What does that mean? Well, good shots with a clear line of sight or done with melee weapons have a VERY high chance to hit. Likewise, getting hit does a LOT of damage in relation to most characters ability to take damage. Things are quite furious here, so its basically the opposite from the Shadowrun Returns attritional combat model where firefights drag out forever and sometimes see characters get hit with an assault rifle and it degrading their hit points by 8% in extreme situations.

As a counter point, targets that are buttoned up behind cover actually offer a rather low base chance to hit – lower than in X-Com in, I’d say – so you really are encouraged to use sound tactics (and you can use character creation to either have a very high chance to hit, therefore making buttoned up targets viable, or lowering the enemy chance to hit you, making you a really tough mark if you’re hunkering in the back with a long range weapon).

There’s also interesting dynamics with a rock-paper-scissors aspect based on physical-tech-magic damage and armor, some targets being extremely vulnerable to one, but immune or resistant to another (physical damage being the ‘safe but doesn’t open vulnerabilities’ option). There’s also a marking system where deckers and magic users can “mark” a target that opens up the abilities for other team members attacks.

I personally would endorse the AI as being respectable as well, though others might disagree. The melee based enemies are aggressive and generally just try and bum-rush you, while the missile enemies play it much more conservative and use cover. It’s not perfect, but I can say with 100% certainty that it’s vastly superior to the AI in ‘Sid Meier’s Starships’ (HAH!). Realistically, it’s probably comparable to the AI in X-Com:EU and better than the AI in the Shadowrun Returns games.

Multiplayer or Singleplayer?You can play either way. There’s currently a 2 player Co-Op mode with 4 player Co-Op coming soon, but you can also easily play single-player by running the whole team yourself (your main character and 3 Henchmen). There’s a global chat and I’d say its generally quite friendly, as we might expect in a game that’s currently Co-Op oriented.

There is no PVP yet, but they’re working on it, though deathmatch style PVP between mature runners probably isn’t coming anytime soon (major balancing issues there with the high end PVE abilities, stun combos and so on). However, one of the ideas is to have asymmetrical PVP where one set of players takes the runners and the other controls the Gang or Corporate troops. The other option is for an “Urban Brawl” with people putting together teams of runners without the high end abilities/kit that will break PVP blanace and then going with a runner-on-runner rumble.

BugsOverall this is quite stable for an early release (and I’m on a Mac). A new update can see problems but they get sorted quickly enough, with most bugs being more of the nuisance variety rather than CTD type stuff.

OverallWhether or not this is a good purchase for you really just comes down to the preferences of the individual here and your expectations. You’ve got a number of things that are well developed or emphasized and then a number of things that RPG fans would be disappointed not to see.

Content has generally been developed with the idea of replayability and caters to tactical gamers at least as much as RPGers. For me its great fun and has an addictive quality as I can just bang out 15 minute firefights, but you’ll have to decide for yourself if what SRC offers is right for you.

Okay, if you're coming down here to read reviews to decide if you should jump into early access, then the answer is simple.

Don't.

It's not that the game is bad, it's not *good* but it's early access, it's going through puberty right now. It'll grow out of some things and stubbornly refuse to change others. Eventually it'll be done.

But you're not going to gain any special insight by joining early. Personally, I would rather have spent the money on something else, but hey, this was my first early access, I was young and inexperienced.

I still have to smack the thumbs up button, because the game is progressing and it's decent, but like a pot of rice, ain't no point in taking a taste when it's still cooking.

This game is sincerely awful. Don't even touch it. Seven months into Early Access (which was released a year late) after a half million in kickstarter (for a game made on a free engine) with money from two different backers, and it looks like they've managed to make something resembling an isometric tactical game. I wouldn't say an isometric RPG, because that would require there to be important decisions the player could make. In fact, you can't even really call it a tactical game. It's an isometric thing where you put your people behind cover and shoot at things until whoever has less shooting power explodes.